Automobile manufacturers do not currently mass-produce passenger motor vehicles specifically designed to transport passengers having physical limitations. Consequently, mass-produced passenger vehicles are modified, or retrofitted, by a number of aftermarket companies dedicated to supplying vehicles to physically limited passengers. Such vehicles can be modified by removing certain parts or structures of a vehicle and replacing those parts with parts specifically designed to accommodate the physically limited passenger.
Some modified vehicles include full-sized vans having an electrical or hydraulic powered wheelchair lift installed on the vehicle to assist wheelchair occupants into and out of the van. These lifts consist of a horizontal platform that translates vertically to allow the wheelchair or scooter occupant easy access from ground level to the interior of the vehicle for transport. Other vehicles include a ramp that can be electrically, hydraulically, or manually operated. For example, in one configuration, a van is retrofitted with a ramp to enable a physically limited individual using a wheelchair to enter and exit the vehicle without the assistance of another individual. Wheelchairs can include both manually powered and electrically powered wheelchairs.
Different types of ramps enable the wheelchair occupant move from the ground external to the vehicle to the floor within the vehicle. The ramp is typically stored in the rear or side door entrance of the vehicle. To access the ramp, the ramp may be rotated outwardly from the vehicle about a pivot. In another embodiment, the ramp is moved along a floor of the van, until one end of the ramp contacts the ground while the other end is supported by the vehicle.
In those vehicles having a ramp which extends from the rear entrance of a vehicle, the floor of the vehicle is modified by removing the OEM floor and replacing with a different floor to accommodate the ramp as well as the wheelchair occupant. The floor is typically lower when compared to the OEM floor. This requires a significant modification to the floor of the vehicle as manufactured by the OEM. Lowering of the floor, however, can interfere with the original suspension system provided when the vehicle is purchased. Consequently, what is needed is a suspension subassembly which provides the same or similar features as the original equipment vehicle, and which accommodates the lowered floor and ramp, while maintaining or improving the rideability and passenger comfort of the vehicle.